MotorAve is a guitar manufacturing company founded an run by luthier Mark Fuqua. The business is based in Durham, North Carolina, where Fuqua builds electric guitars himself. Besides their line of handbuilt guitars the company also repairs guitars on a limited basis as well as performing modifications such as changing pickups, electronics, hardware, frets and other components.
History
Fuqua started to work at Chandler Industries in San Francisco in 1990. In those years he began his first guitar repair business, first working as freelancer for guitar stores. In 1998 Fuqua moved to Paris where he continued to build guitars. fined and gained the skills that made Mark the master luthier that he is today. In 2002 Fuqua opened his first MotorAve shop in Los Angeles. He moved the shop to Hollywood where he continued to build guitars until 2007, when the business was relocated in Durham, North Carolina, where MotorAve Guitars are made nowadays.
Guitars
All MotorAve guitars are built by hand and can be fitted with several different options including different pick ups, fretboard, inlays and finishes.
BelAire
The BelAire originated as a solid-body guitar built as a one-off for a customer looking for a large guitar due to his own large stature. To avoid back routed control cavities, the guitar was designed with a large pickguard, similar to the one of a Fender Telecaster Thinline. After the guitar was delivered Fuqua decided to create a semihollow version of the guitar with a Bigsby vibrato. The guitar had a solid core in the body's center and a sharp soundhole similar to what is normally found on Rickenbackers. During its construction Alain Johannes, visited the shop to pick up a vintage Maton which had been repaired and took a liking to the unfinished guitar. A few weeks later the finished guitar was delivered to Johannes and a week later Queens of the Stone Agefront manJosh Homme ordered one for himself which was his main guitar during the recording of Era Vulgaris.
LeMans
The LeMans was specially designed to be extremely thin much like a Gibson SG. The guitar is fitted with a single bridge pickup to allow for an extra strong neck joint which allows extra transference between neck and body. Another feature to make the guitar simple and easy to maintain is the control plate with a single volume control and jack input, the short and simple circuit also reduces capacitance for a clear tone. One of the first LeMans models were built for American hard rock bandBurning Brides guitarist and vocalist Dimitri Coats.
